Try Family Tree on FamilySearch.org

Development continues on the Family Tree section of FamilySearch.org. Family Tree is an update and eventual replacement for new.FamilySearch.org. If you haven’t had a chance to see Family Tree in action, you can register to use it at http://familysearch.org/invite/familytree_tab.

As a user of Family Tree, you will be able to:

Connect and collaborate with others.

Add, edit, and delete relationships.

Discuss and source vital family information.

Add specific ancestors to a personal “Watch List.”

Try out new features and functionality as they become available.

View Family Tree in other languages (based on browser language).

Family Tree at FamilySearch.org will give all users of FamilySearch the ability to view and track their family history information in an easy and integrated way. But we are at the beginning of the process, and there are still improvements to be made. Consequently, the product management team would love for you to provide your thoughts, issues, and impressions of the new system and its features, including the recently added ability to add, edit, and delete relationships. To that end, they have set up a website to provide an easy way to communicate your feedback. Simply visit the team’s getsatisfaction site, and let your voice be heard.

New Features

Here is a quick run-down of some of the new features of Family Tree to help you understand better how it works so you can use it more effectively; and help others to do so, too.

Adding People to Family Tree

In the Family Members section of a person’s details page, you should immediately notice a series of new links that give you the ability to add spouses, parents, and children. On the Tree page, you will see Add Husband and Add Wife at the end of your genealogical lines. These links give you the ability to add new or find existing people to link to your families.

Adding, Changing, and Removing Marriage Data

Selecting a couple’s View link will open the couple relationship page. If your data is like mine, you’ll have lots of redundant and incorrect marriage information. This is a good place to start cleaning up. Begin by attaching marriage sources to the couple relationship. Clean up the data using good reason statements.

Adding, Changing, and Removing Relationship Types

Selecting the View link next to a child will open the parent-child relationship page. On this page you can correct any relationship types (Biological, Step, Adopted, and so on).

Removing Relationships

If you have a relationship that is simply incorrect, you can delete it. This is done from the relationship page. Select Delete Relationship in the upper-right hand of either the couple or parent-child relationship page. You will be prompted to give a reason for the action. Once again, be clear and be complete. These deleted relationships are archived and can be restored if necessary. You will find them in the change histories of the people who were affected by that deleted relationship. Select Reference from the applicable entry of the change history to go to an archived copy of the relationship. Select Restore, found in the upper-right of the archived relationship, to bring the relationship back.

Comments

Part of the frustration of the “privacy” issues is NOT KNOWING what is the big deal if the names of my family members are showing up to me. I already know them. So why would I not be able to SEE them. This is slightly annoying, because I have no idea why this is an important consideration to the Church to make sure that I can’t see the names of living family members… and then to read on an instruction sheet that it is preferred that I not enter these names manually because it might be mistaken for another person if I get the information wrong, like a birth date typo. I get that. But what I don’t get is why I can’t show my family tree to my family and have them see how it branches out from TODAY, from the LIVING people, and how it grows back and back. Surely there must be some consideration for trying to make this more interesting and LINKING the past to the present… but the present is partially MISSING and that just raises questions. It brings up the frustrating reality that we are so concerned about “privacy.”
I do not get it.
I long for the day when we can get beyond all this lawyer stuff.

I tend to agree.. I think one nice thing about genealogy is finding out about living relatives of your deceased ancestors and sharing stories with them. No one that I know of is working on my family story, but in the short time I have worked on it, I’m sure there are cousins that we have lost touch with over the years, would be nice to locate them via the genealogy way

I have been tring to get on Family Tree. This, I understand replaces Familysearch.org. I enter my user name, which hasnt changed in many month, but did change since discovering familysearch. When McAfee tries to download it says my user name is wrong. I am weary of fighting my computer. Its trying to tell me I am wrong and it is right. I would love to further my genealogy search as soon as I can. Thanks.

The “Drop-Down” that obscures the name block in “View Person” is back again and unable to get it to retract. or hide it.

This is a MAJOR problem that has periodically occurred since I have been trying to use Family Tree over the last several days. I called your phone help and was told tht it is a known problem and to be patient. But this is a MAJOR problem and should be moved to a high priority!

I have started working in family tree, but this information does not seem to be linked back to new.familysearch.org. For example, when I create my fan chart at createfan.com, the updated info on family tree is not included because it appears to be linked to new.familysearch.org.

This finding led me to another question. When family tree officially replaces new.familysearch.org will I need to redo all of the work I have done in family tree because it will be overwritten? Alternatively, if I make a change in new.familysearch.org, will it be changed in family tree but not vice versa?

Further to my previous comment. The problem appears to be the third-party application createfan.com. I just verified that the changes I made in family tree did indeed show up in new.familysearch.org. My previous comment is therefore not relevant.

I can’t make any sense out of the pedigree chart interface. Ordinarily, in a pedigree paternal lines appear in the top half, material in the bottom half. This seems to be using a different approach, but I haven’t been able to figure it out, and I haven’t found any explanation online. A reference librarian at a local genealogy library looked at it and she gave up as well. What do you have in mind? I’ve only been able to enter info on my direct paternal lineage using my own surname, no one else. Nothing in the bottom half of the pedigree chart ever opens up as editable.

I’ve been on here for several hours, entering and reentering information, only to not find it on the tree – waaaay to complicated for me – would like to delete the whole thing but can’t find a way to do it. :/

How in the world do you use family tree. I need to print two parent sealings and couple sealings and cannot get on new family search (which I consider to be a whole lot better then this family tree) but I need to know if their is a tutorial for family tree. Everything I look at is for beginner’s nothing referring how to use family tree. I really need some help!

new.familysearch is no longer available. All temple submissions are done through family tree. Go to familysearch.org and sign in. Then it will say go to the tree or use the top left tab called Family Tree and click it. It will give a pull down menu with Tree listed first. Just click Tree. Find where your person fits into the tree. If they are already there check ordinances to see if they are already done. If they are not there link them into the tree. Check for duplicates and reserve them for temple work. Go to Temple top right and bring them up. That is where you can print a page to take to the Temple.

1. Click on the event or the item in which the typo is located. (for example, click on the birth information).
2. In the box that opens around the event, click the “Edit” button.
3. In the Edit window, correct the typo
4. Add a reason — “fixed typo”
5. Click “Save”

For living people, when I add them to my tree…then they appear. But if I add them by importing my family GED file, it will not show them. Is there a way of getting all my living relatives into my family tree without having to enter each one individually? Thanks for you help.